it was tight working

Hola. No estoy seguro de cómo traducir "it was tight working where there was no room to work" en el texto siguiente: ...and the workman, intimating that his arms were a bit stiffish, and that it was tight working where there was no room to work, left us for the night, with the assurance that he would be back again after breakfast next morning.No me suena bien "era un trabajo difícil en donde no había espacio para trabajar" , ya que "trabajo" y "trabajar" sería casi repetir la misma palabra.Gracias por vuestra ayuda.